It matters who we elect to the office of Mayor and Metro Council. We are at a turning point.

In a year from now will we be watching on the evening news that Nashville's mayor conducted a mass grand wedding for gay couples on the steps of the metro court house, and the city funded a big gay wedding party to celebrate our "diversity" and how "welcoming" of a city we are?

Will we see a massive new tax increases?  Will we see our bond ratings tumble?

A year from now will we learn that our schools will be adopting a family life curriculum that teaches gender fluidity- the ideal that there is no such thing as boys and girls but we are each somewhere along a spectrum?

Will we see massive new spending for public art, for new light rail that multiplies the failure of the Music City Star several times, and new everything- infrastructure, parks, schools, and as of yet unthought of projects? Maybe a downtown soccer stadium? We will continue to divert tax generated from downtown development out of the general fund?

Will we be engaging in price fixing by mandating that all new residential property construction contain a set aside of a certain number of units that must be priced to be "affordable" and that they must be kept "affordable" for the next thirty to forty years?

Will we be running roughshod over private property rights by taking people's property and selling it to a developer because bureaucrats and the mayor think the new owner will do something better with the property?

These things are not fantasies. There are examples all across the country of cities that are on the verge of going bankrupt because of mismanagement and cities with outrageously high property taxes due to unfettered spending, and cities that are celebrating the normalization of deviant behavior.

Since 2010, forty-seven municipalities have gone bankrupt (link). Many cities have tax rates that are a severe burden to the residents. If you think taxes are high in Nashville, look at other cities. In San Francisco, a home-owner with a median income pays a total of 39% or their income in Federal, State and local taxes of one sort or another. In Nashville it is 24.36%.  Of the largest 100 cities, we are the 45th most heavily taxed (compare the top 100). There are those who want us to spend more for this or that and "invest" more. The flip side of the "spend," "invest," or "fund," is "tax." Money for pubic goods has to come from somewhere and it comes our of your pocket. I think we are taxed enough.

One of the nation’s largest public school systems is preparing to include gender identity to its classroom curriculum, including lessons on gender fluidity (link). In Orlando, Florida, 50 same sex couples got married by Mayor Buddy Dyer in January (video). There are those who want Nashville to become "the San Francisco of the South." I don't.

We need to pay close attention to this election and elect some common-sense people. If one rushed to the election commission tomorrow early and picked up a petition to run for council, one could work hard at it and turn it in before noon on Thursday and be on the ballot.  Nashville is on the verge of taking a hard left turn if we elect some of the people who are running to the office of mayor and council. We don't need to let that happen.

Top Stories